China's Coming Central Military Commission: Leadership Change and Political Implications

China's Central Military Commission (CMC) will witness another round of generational change at the forthcoming Eighteenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012. Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping would remain top leaders of the CMC and seven members are likely to be replaced. Although the new military leadership is unlikely to alter civil-military relationship, the emergence of princeling generals would tip the balance in favour of the gun.